A dramatic afternoon at Ashton Gate ends in a 3-3 draw, with the FA Cup Third Round tie between the Sky Blues and Bristol City going to a replay at the Ricoh.
The Sky Blues took a twelfth minute lead through Colin Cameron but just nine minutes later found themselves 3-1 down following goals from Steve Brooker, Enoch Showunmi and Phil Jevons.
City composed themselves after that shock and Leon McKenzie pulled one back before half time with substitute Stern John grabbing the equaliser with ten minutes left on the clock.
Micky Adams was forced to name an inexperienced defence with Elliott Ward out with a hamstring strain and Marcus Hall ruled out through illness. As a result Ben Turner made his full City debut at centre back, with Andy Whing starting on the left and Adam Virgo on the right
Alongside Kevin Kyle up front was Dele Adebola and he came close to giving City the lead in the second minute when he headed a Colin Cameron cross just wide of the upright. The home side broke rapidly and Scott Murray fired in a cross-cum-shot which was deflected wide for a corner.
The Sky Blues had started the game well and in the ninth minute Cameron and Osbourne linked well to allow the young midfielder to get a sight of goal but Robins keeper Adriano Basso stood up well to block his powerful effort.
But it was only three minutes until City had a deserved lead and the goal came from Cameron after an excellent Coventry counter attack. The former Wolves man was found by Kyle and played the ball upfield to Adebola before overlapping, receiving possession again and unleashing an unstoppable strike into the far corner.
Sixty seconds later though and the home side were level, with City's young defence guilty of a lack of concentration. Phil Jevons found Steve Brooker on the edge of the box, who turned and fired a low shot from 18 yards which nestled in the bottom corner.
On 18 minutes things got even worse for the Sky Blues when Bristol took the lead through Enoch Shownmi whose header at the far post was hacked off the line by Robert Page but the assistant referee adjudged the ball to have crossed the line and the goal was allowed.
The remarkable scenes took an even worse twist for City when the Robins went 3-1 ahead in the 21st minute. This time Showunmi turned provider as he got round the back of the Coventry defence, dinked a ball into the six-yard box where Jevons was unmarked to nod the ball into a vacant net. Question marks could be asked of City's defence but Steele was standing on his goalline when he should really have been dominating his six-yard area.
Micky Adams subsequently switched Virgo and Whing to opposing full-back positions with Bristol getting far too much joy down their left - City's right - in the opening exchanges.
Just as City looked dead and buried they scrambled a goal back in the 33rd minute through McKenzie who stabbed the ball under Basso from 10 yards after he was picked out by Doyle.
With the game still stretched and both teams creating chances, at the interval it was anybody's guess as to what the final score might be and at the start of the second period Stern John replaced Adebola who was holding his hamstring in the dying stages of the first half. Soon afterwards Wayne Andrews came on for Kyle who did not seem overwhelming delighted with the manager's decision.
John had a good opportunity to make it 3-3 in the 65th minute when some trademark play by McKenzie resulted in a pull-back finding him unmarked 15 yards from goal, but he skied his shot well high and wide.
City were bossing possession and came much closer to equalising with 20 minutes left on the clock when Cameron unleashed a ferocious shot from the edge of the area which rattled the crossbar and fell to safety. The Sky Blues continued to throw everything at their opponents and somehow failed to score when a goalmouth scramble saw John shoot from point blank range only for Jamie McCombe to clear over his own crossbar.
With 10 minutes left on the clock - and after a few more scares at the other end - City got the goal they had been threatening. McKenzie battled to the left byline and pulled back to John who this time found the back of the net with a scuffed left-footed shot, despite Basso getting something on his effort.
Having worked so hard to get back into it, with five minutes left Luke Steele made a good block from Johnson's close range shot as the Sky Blues were caught between going for the kill or holding out for a replay. At the other end a delightful, curling strike from Whing forced Basso into another good stop.
There were some good and bad elements about Coventry's performance but you could not deny that it was a hugely entertaining 90 minutes and they did enough to put themselves into the hat for the Fourth Round.
Coventry: Steele; Whing; Page; Turner; Virgo; Cameron; Osbourne; Doyle; Kyle (Andrews 53); Adebola (John 46); McKenzie. Subs: Marshall; Birchall; Tabb
Booked: Doyle (24); Kyle (39); Virgo (44)
Bristol City: Basso; Orr; McCombe; Keogh; McAllister; Murray; Russell; Johnson; Showunmi; Jevons (Skuse 61); Brooker. Subs: Fontaine; Noble; Weale; Myrie-Williams
Booked: Johnson (24); McAllister (45)
Referee: Mr P Joslin
Attendance: 13,336 (2,903)
